You are surrounded by the teachers of God. They are here to love, support and direct you.

As always though, I cannot write about my experience and practice of Steps without mentioning my doubt and skepticism.

My notes for this Step say:

“As far back as I can remember, I have always believed in angels, in a benevolent power looking after me, and even hoped there might be a personal angel just for me. I can visualize this presence, these Teachers of God, when I meditate, and even feel their love and support, but unfortunately, even here, doubt creeps in. Am I not just believing what I want to believe (Step 5)?

“My mind is an amazing thing, I can convince myself of anything I want, but is this the Truth?”

Today I realize again that I have no trouble feeling the presence of these Teachers of God, I can even see them in my mind’s eye and feel their support. But I also ask the same question as Douglas, are they merely a mental construct?

The Power and the Presence watches over you
And all people in the world
Waiting for those
Who are ready
Waiting for those
Who are ready to awaken
From their deep sleep
Of desire and disappointment
Watching over the world
Waiting for those minds
That seek freedom.
Not just an outer freedom
But an inner freedom
Waiting for the moment
Of readiness
In the individual.

Trusting my inner guidance

My notes continue after reading this teaching:

“The Power and Presence – I am wondering if this is the same as the Teachers of God? I have been reading and rereading the Rays of Initiation. My first reaction was that I feel I am missing some vital point, I am not ready, I am still asleep, and this was a very humbling thing to feel.

“Then I wondered ‘How can this be?’ since I have had many ‘awakening’ experiences, although not born of despair and frustration, but rather from seeking for something more real, more authentic, more permanent and more essential – that has certainly been my experience in the past, until I moved to Russia . . . Now all those things I sought are present in my life. So I am wondering, did I respond to my greater calling, greater purpose back then, before I was conscious of all that is presented in the New Message? And now I am living my real life, the life I was destined to live at this time? Or am I indeed missing some vital point?

“I am thinking that it must be possible for people to respond to their greater calling unconsciously.”

Today I feel more certain, more confident. I still have questions, but I am trusting my inner guidance.

A new idea was introduced in Step 22 of Steps to Knowledge, the idea of the Teachers of God, whose presence can be felt, who are here to love, support and direct their students. Some people may read this and think, “Ah, well, this is a useful, empowering construct, a helpful metaphor.” But Step 23 is the first step in Steps to Knowledge where all the words of the previous step “I am surrounded by the Teachers of God” are present in the next step in the same order “I am loved, surrounded and supported by the Teachers of God.”

The first two sentences of the step suggest that there is some awareness that this is a challenging idea:

The truth of this will become self-evident as you prepare, but for now it may require great faith. This idea may challenge existing ideas or beliefs, but it is true nonetheless.

I am amused by the use of the word “self-evident” in this step, because I have used that word in working definitions of Knowledge here and here. The word “true” is used many times in Steps to Knowledge, but relatively infrequently in the context of saying “x is true,” where x is a proposition. This is the second time this has happened in Steps so far.

Therefore, if anyone is going to go forward in the study of Steps to Knowledge, the idea of the benevolent presence of the Teachers of God is an idea to seriously consider.

Step 22 of Steps to Knowledge introduces a new idea, “the Teachers of God.” Students have a certain degree of incredulity when considering the idea “I am surrounded by the Teachers of God.” When the first sentence of the first paragraph of the step says “You are indeed surrounded by the Teachers of God,” it suggests a certain anticipation of questioning. The word “indeed” in this sentence is the first use of the word “indeed” in Steps to Knowledge.

What are these Teachers like? The word “who” is used to refer to them, and they are said to have undertaken a training in many ways similar to Steps to Knowledge. It is therefore reasonable to think of them as individuals.

Where did they get this training? “Though given in many different forms, in different eras, in different worlds, a very similar kind of training was given to them that was geared wisely to their former state of mind and circumstances in life.” This is the first time the idea of individuals from different worlds is mentioned in Steps to Knowledge.

These Teachers aren’t human, are they? No. If one counts our world as one of the “different worlds,” then there might be Teachers who were human at one time. There might be a great many Teachers who have never been human, as there are a great many different worlds in the universe. I consider this step to require a number of deep breaths between the time one reads the step, and the time one goes on to the next step.

Are these Teachers extra-terrestrials? That would be implied by the “in different worlds” text, wouldn’t it? The step says we cannot yet see or hear them, but we can feel their presence. If I am surrounded by these Teachers, but cannot yet see or hear them, then they aren’t the kind of extra-terrestrials associated with UFO sightings and abduction experiences. The practice of this step is to feel the presence of the Teachers of God. I take comfort that it wasn’t the first time I was asked to feel something. Since the step said “Do not give in to doubt or confusion,” there is a certain anticipation of the need for a number of deep breaths.

I believe someone is reading this and wondering “What does the presence of the Teachers of God feel like?” I was still struggling with the idea of practicing feeling something. I could imagine that if Teachers such as the ones described here really did exist, their presence would have a very calming and assuring feeling, as they had already done what I was trying to do. On the other hand, I wasn’t asked to imagine something, I was asked to feel something.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some students decided not to take the necessary deep breaths at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if some students said to themselves “Everything I studied so far in steps 1-21 has been really helpful, but I’m going to take this Teachers of God thing with a certain degree of skepticism.” There is a certain anticipation of this skepticism, but there is also a statement saying this engagement is a necessary part of the package:

“Do not give in to doubt or confusion, for you must prepare to have the reward that you seek, and you must know that you are not alone in the world to have the strength, the confidence and the resource of Wisdom necessary to achieve that which you were sent here to achieve.”

Source Documents

God Has Spoken Again
God is speaking to humanity anew, proclaiming a warning, a blessing and a preparation for a new world reality.

The One God
A book of revelation that provides a new understanding of the nature and reality of God and God’s Plan and Purpose in the world and in the Greater Community of life in the universe.

The New Messenger
A book of revelation regarding the origin, lineage and mission of the Messengers of God who, at different times in human history, have entered the world to receive and present New Revelations for humanity.

Relationships and Higher Purpose
Taking you beyond the normal parameters of human relationships to a deeper experience of union, purpose and meaning with those individuals with whom you share a greater destiny in life.

Steps to Knowledge
Taking you on the journey of discovering Knowledge, the mysterious source of your inner power and authority, given to you by God to guide and to protect you.

Living the Way of Knowledge
The New Message Teaching on how to bring the grace, the guidance and the power of Knowledge into the Four Pillars of your life: The Pillar of Relationships, The Pillar of Work, The Pillar of Health and The Pillar of Spiritual Development.

The Great Waves of Change
A prophecy of the difficult times ahead and the steps you can take to navigate an increasingly turbulent and uncertain future.

How Posts Are Organized – Как организуются сообщения

2) If a post is tagged with a given tag, it means either a) that post is part of a thread where all the posts in the thread have that tag (like "2012 Encampment" for example), or b) that an out-of-the-ordinary person, place or thing was referenced in the post (like "Boulder" for example)

4) Most of the posts written before August 2014 are related to the book "Steps to Knowledge," but were not tagged as such. A tag of the form "Step #" such as "Step 10" means the post with that tag is related to Step 10 of the 365 steps in Steps to Knowledge.